In support of this restriction

I'm now a retired RVer and US Citizen and I support this bill. Why? Even before I retired there were many US National Parks I couldn't visit on vacations because they were filled to capacity. In many cases it was older retired RVers who used their passes to occupy space in the park at greatly reduced rates. I don't object to that, but in most cases these people weren't using anything more than the parking space, preventing people like myself who wanted to visit the park for hiking, off-roading, and exploration.

Now if there was a way to separate these people from those of us who want to use a lot more of the facilities in the park, then I would oppose this bil.

Comments for In support of this restriction

Americans just don't get it. Tourism is what makes this country run. Take away easy access to the National Parks and we won't come or as Maryanne says, stay longer in a select few. Think of all the communities around these parks that get our business

Aug 25, 2014

Non-citizens and Park Passby: L Clark

One commenter said they thought the majority of the non-US citizens using the park pass were Canadians. It has been my experience using the parks in the Western US that Canadians who used the parks were in the minority when you factor in the French, Germans, Danes, English and other European citizens along with Aussies & Japanese. One host told me that 75% of the campers were not US citizens. We've translated more French and Spanish for visitors than we care to think about.

We lived in Africa and Central America for a number of years and visited national parks in both areas. We always had to pay 5-10 times the price of admission that a local had to pay to enter the parks. It didn't stop us from visiting them and we brought many friends to them.

Just my humble observations.

Aug 25, 2014

OK I found itby: JBK

I backtracked an found the description of the bill.

I think it's safe to assume that most non-citizens using the park system are Canadians. And, as pointed out, Canada offers a pass to non-citizens for its park system. That being the case I'd have to oppose this bill.

Both my wife and I have Access passes which we use a lot. I can't say that I've noticed that the park system is being overloaded by a flood of Canadians. I could see passing a bill to offer the pass to any non-citizen who's country also offers the same benefit to Americans. And to deny one to people from countries that do not offer one to Americans.

BK

Aug 25, 2014

What restriction?by: Anonymous

What restriction? I don't see a link or any explanation of the bill.

Aug 25, 2014

Non citizens don't get that discountby: Marianne

I hear what you're saying but you may not be aware that only US citizens qualify for the annual Senior or Access pass which gets them discounted camping.

As non-citizens we can't purchase that pass (which is so cheap it's almost free) no matter how old or disabled we are. And, I should add, we're not objecting to that at all.

At issue here is that we may not be allowed to purchase the regular $80.00 annual pass anymore should this bill pass. This would likely mean we won't visit as many parks and, instead, spend more time in the ones we do, thereby tying up those campsites even longer. Would that help your situation? Or more likely, make it worse?

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